Saturday, August 06, 2005

Why am I awake? The one day of the week I can really sleep in (even though we were planning to get up early to see if we can catch my niece's mission gang before they hightail it back to Tulsa) and I tossed and turned all night. I finally gave up. I get philosophical when I can't sleep...I suppose you should consider that advance warning.

The moment an ill can be patiently handled, it is disarmed of its poison, though not of its pain. - Henry Ward Beecher

I've been a little obsessed with Henry Beecher lately, something about him stirred my curiosity and perhaps I'll write about it one day....not this morning though. He was Harriet Beecher Stowe's younger brother...a noted preacher in the 1800's....with his own problems. I simply thought of that quote while looking at this picture.

That's on the highly publicized “security wall" being built by the Israelis on the West Bank. One day the Israelis say the wall will extend for some 400 miles. The painting is one of several painted by a British graffiti artist called "Banksy."

The paintings are on the Palestinian side...jokingly imagining life on the other side.

I don't blame the Israelis for building walls for protection. I can't envision a life where men...women and children living within miles of you opt to become human bombs to further a cause most of the world no longer understands...if it ever did.

I've walled myself off from far less lethal threats...we all do.

At 5 a.m. on Saturday I'm grateful that such creations can be disarmed a bit though...if only for a moment.